Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Eternal Perspective

E is for eternal perspective. Eternal perspective changes everything. If our minds are set on this earth and an earthly perspective, we will accumulate stuff and avoid losses at all cost. Any loss will be devastating.

It was eternal perspective that helped us the most as we walked through the intensely difficult experience of losing our middle son. When we were in the depths of despair, realizing we would never again see our son on this earth, God reminded us that we would have eternity together with him in God's presence.

One of the most profound movie lines comes from The Gladiator when Maximus says, "What we do here echoes in eternity."

Someone else once compared this life on earth to a dot and eternity to a line that continues on and on and on with no end. And what we do in the dot, the decisions we make, determine what eternity will be like for us. As we tried to get our minds around this concept of eternity, it dawned on me that the length of our lifetime here on earth is relatively insignificant whether it is a day, a year, twenty years or a hundred years. It is still like a dot compared to the ongoing line of eternity.

Some who read this may scoff, thinking that we are just fooling ourselves and that what exists here and now, the things we can see and touch, are the only reality. But there is spiritual reality that will exist for eternity even though we cannot see it at the moment.

The book of I John in chapter 5 verses 11 and 12 states: "And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." The writer wanted his readers to have the absolute certainty of a life for eternity with God and made it very clear that that was only available to us through Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Our son John wrote this in his journal just 6 days before he disappeared:

Most importantly, I’m a child of God and I know where I’m going – I just need help finding out what to do in the meanwhile.

Without a shadow of a doubt he was sure of his eternal destination and for him, life here on earth was a temporary habitation. What a difference that makes in the way we look at life, death, relationships, losses - virtually every aspect of life.

My prayer is that I would live my life with the perspective of eternity each and every day. What about you?

4 comments:

  1. I'm visiting via the A-Z Challenge and was very moved by this post.

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  2. There is comfort in eternal perspective... honestly it is what has kept me from dispair in the past. Just knowing that this is all temporary brings hope. Thank you for sharing Sharon! Looking forward to reading more... -Tori @www.journeycalledlife1.com

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  3. Brianna - thank you for telling me that. If this moved you, you would probably love our book that tells the whole story, Aloha is Forever.

    Tori - I'll be over to visit your blog either today or tomorrow. Time to take a nap with my grandson.

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  4. Your words are very profound indeed! I'll be following from now on to see what else you have to say. Thanks also for stopping by my site and commenting.

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts.